N.Y. Comp. Codes R. & Regs. Tit. 6 § 617.8 - Scoping
(a) The primary
goals of scoping are to focus the EIS on potentially significant adverse
impacts and to eliminate consideration of those impacts that are irrelevant or
not significant . Scoping is required for all EISs (except for supplemental
EISs), and may be initiated by the lead agency or the project
sponsor.
(b) The project sponsor
must submit a draft scope that contains the items identified in paragraphs (e)
(1) through (5) of this section to the lead agency. The lead agency must
provide a copy of the draft scope to all involved agencies, and make it
available to any individual or interested agency that has expressed an interest
in writing to the lead agency.
(c)
Involved agencies should provide written comments reflecting their concerns,
jurisdictions and needs for environmental analysis sufficient to ensure that
the EIS will be adequate to support their SEQR findings. The lead agency must
include such informational needs in the final scope provided they are
reasonable. Failure of an involved agency to participate in the scoping process
will not delay completion of the final written scope.
(d) Scoping must include an opportunity for
public participation. The lead agency may either provide a period of time for
the public to review and provide written comments on a draft scope or provide
for public input through the use of meetings, exchanges of written material, or
other means.
(e) The lead agency
must provide a final written scope to the project sponsor, all involved
agencies and any individual that has expressed an interest in writing to the
lead agency within 60 days of its receipt of a draft scope. The final written
scope should include:
(1) a brief description
of the proposed action;
(2) the
potentially significant adverse impacts identified both in Part 3 of the
environmental assessment form and as a result of consultation with the other
involved agencies and the public, including an identification of those
particular aspect(s) of the environmental setting that may be impacted;
(3) the extent and quality of
information needed for the preparer to adequately address each impact,
including an identification of relevant existing information, and required new
information, including the required methodology(ies) for obtaining new
information;
(4) an initial
identification of mitigation measures;
(5) the reasonable alternatives to be
considered;
(6) an identification
of the information or data that should be included in an appendix rather than
the body of the draft EIS; and
(7)
a brief description of the prominent issues that were considered in the review
of the environmental assessment form or raised during scoping, or both, and
determined to be neither relevant nor environmentally significant or that have
been adequately addressed in a prior environmental review and the reasons why
those issues were not included in the final scope.
(f) All relevant issues should be raised
before the issuance of a final written scope. Any agency or person raising
issues after that time must provide to the lead agency and project sponsor a
written statement that identifies:
(1) the
nature of the information;
(2) the
importance and relevance of the information to a potential significant
impact;
(3) the reason(s) why the
information was not identified during scoping and why it should be included at
this stage of the review.
(g) The project sponsor of this section into
the draft EIS
(h) If the lead
agency fails to provide a final written scope within 60 calendar days of its
receipt of a draft scope, the project sponsor may prepare and submit a draft
EIS consistent with the submitted draft scope.
Notes
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